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It’s the spookiest time of the year, so what better time to talk about fear? And what better anime to discuss than Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, which takes place around Halloween (albeit on Mars) and features our supercool hero Spike taking on a terrifying villain, Vincent Volaju? But while the movie has its frightening moments (Spike getting absolutely crushed by Vincent! Faye kidnapped and in genuine danger!), it’s not a horror film; it’s rather a character piece, and I think one of its most interesting aspects is a lesson about fear that comes from Spike himself.
And who better to take such a lesson from than Spike, who doesn’t seem afraid of anything. He throws himself into gunfights, takes impossible risks, laughs off danger, and faces death with a cigarette dangling from his mouth (all while spitting the awesome line, “Whatever happens, happens”). But as the themes of Cowboy Bebop come into focus—especially in light of the final two episodes—we begin to recognize that Spike’s recklessness isn’t necessarily courage. In fact, there’s something deeply troubling about the way he lives.
Perhaps Spike isn’t fearless at all—perhaps he’s just less afraid of dying than facing the life he’s left behind.
Haunted by his past, particularly his relationships with Julia and Vicious, Spike never seems fully present aboard the Bebop. He acts cool, but emotionally, he’s stuck somewhere else. And in this film, which was released after the series concluded but takes place chronologically before its finale, we see that struggle brought to the surface through his encounters with the seemingly invincible Vincent, who nearly kills him in their first confrontation.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie and the television series.
Vincent is a former soldier whose traumatic experiences have left him unable to distinguish dreams from reality. He’s become so disconnected from the world that he doesn’t even know whether he’s alive. And because nothing seems real to him, other people’s lives have lost their meaning, too.
Spike recognizes something of himself in Vincent. Both were soldiers. Both are haunted by the past. And both are detached from the present—uncertain about the boundary between dreams and reality. Vincent represents a possible future for Spike: a man who has surrendered so completely to his detachment that he’s lost nearly everything that makes him human.
And perhaps most surprisingly, Vincent—a nearly unstoppable killing machine—is himself driven by fear. He wants to escape his memories, his suffering, and the unbearable uncertainty of his own existence. His attempts to escape that fear have led him toward destruction, both for himself and others.
Spike, however, still has a choice. He hasn’t surrendered completely to fear. But for much of the series, he’s been running from the past rather than confronting it. And in Vincent, he encounters a frightening reflection of where that running might lead.
I think we can be a lot like Spike.
We avoid difficult conversations because we’re afraid of what might happen. We refuse to confront past hurts because reopening those wounds feels unbearable. We keep moving forward without ever dealing with what’s behind us, hoping that distance will somehow bring healing.
Sometimes, as with Vincent and Spike, what looks like strength is actually fear. But Scripture reminds us:
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
~ 2 Timothy 1:7
That fear we feel doesn’t have to control us; in fact, Paul tells us that God gives us all we need to conquer it. We only need to trust him and to do what’s right even when we’re afraid of the consequences.
In Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Spike takes a step toward confronting his fear when he faces Vincent a second time. His deeper struggle remains unresolved, but Spike has taken a major step toward facing his past. And we know where his story ultimately leads: Rather than continuing to run, Spike eventually chooses to face Vicious and the life he left behind, a decision that leads to his apparent death.
It’s a tragic ending, and not necessarily an exact perfect model for how we should confront our own problems! For Christians, thankfully, we can turn toward a hope that Spike doesn’t have. Our courage doesn’t rest in our ability to overcome our past alone or control what happens next; it rests in Jesus Christ, who has already overcome the world. No matter the outcome, we can face the things we dread because our ultimate security is in him.
This Halloween, as we think about ghosts and ghouls, let’s consider the quieter, more personal fears that keep us from living faithfully. Perhaps there’s something we’ve been running from for far too long. And perhaps it’s time to stop that running—not because we know what will happen next, but because we know the One who holds our future.
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